Baked Pork Chops with Pickle Juice

I'm trying a new recipe tonight, from Not Just Beans: 50 Years of Frugal Family Favorites.

pork chops, 1 per person
salt and pepper to taste
onion, 1 - 2 slices per chop
ketchup, 1 Tbs per chop
pickle juice, 1/2 cup per 4 chops

Put the chops in a baking dish that has a cover (or use aluminum foil to cover later) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place some onion slices on each chop, then squirt a bit of ketchup over each, then pour the pickle juice in. The recipe calls for sweet pickle juice. I'm using the juice from some bread and butter pickles. Then cover and bake for an hour at 350.

As an aside, I love the taste of these bread and butter pickles but never quite know what to do with them. I prefer dill pickles (the spicier the better) in sandwiches and hamburgers. I actually like to pull a grilled cheese sandwich apart and spread pickle relish inside of it, although I'll have some bread and butter pickles on the side if I'm out of relish. There was a restaurant, an ice cream place, in Oakland that used to serve the best grilled crab sandwiches with bread and butter pickles on the side! Mmmmm! Maybe it's just the memory of those sandwiches that makes me like bread and butter pickles. Even as a kid, I loved pickled anything. Beets. Carrot sticks. Cucumbers.

I've seen several recipes for things (usually pork) baked in pickle juice. I always add a little pickle juice to my potato salad. That's how my Grandma used to make it.

I've also seen crockpot recipes for roasts cooked in a jar of pepperoncini and that sounds great too! I need to try that soon before the weather heats up too much. It rained last night here, pretty unusual for almost June. Makes me think of my last few winter dinners, rather than the barbecues I should be planning for Memorial Day weekend.

Meatballs with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Again with those frozen meatballs!

Saw an easy looking recipe which was basically to take a can of cream of mushroom soup, add 1/2 cup of sour cream, mix it up, pour it over some meatballs, and bake. Well, I don't use canned soups for my cooking so I made up a homemade mushroom sauce, added the sour cream, thawed some meatballs, poured the sauce over them and baked them at 350 while I made some white rice. Hardly healthy, but a good quick warm meal.

2 Tbs butter
1 small can of mushroom pieces, drained, or 1/4 cup fresh mushrooms, diced
1/4 cup diced onion OR onion powder
2 Tbs flour
1 cup milk or broth (or milk and bullion)
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter. Saute the mushrooms and onions a few minutes, then stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. (I always heat the milk for 2 minutes in the microwave at this point.) Slowly whisk in the milk or broth, then bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Salt and pepper to taste.

Let this cool a bit and then stir in the sour cream. Put the meatballs in a 9x9 pan and pour the sauce over them, stirring well. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or so.

Rice--Plain old white rice

When I was growing up we almost always had potatoes with dinner. Sometimes we'd have a baked spaghetti and meat sauce kind of thing, or maybe lasagna, but the primary carb was definitely potatoes. Boiled, baked, mashed, scalloped, fried. And they were good! But I remember plain boiled white rice as a rarity, something to be treasured as an unusual treat. I also remember my mom telling stories about growing up in the Depression. One of her after-school snacks was leftover rice heated up with a pat of butter on it. Or cooked with a bit of milk and sugar for a quick sweet treat. No soy sauce back then I guess, which my kids must have on the table with rice.

I just bought another big bag of rice at Costco this morning. I keep it in several different containers with bay leaves to keep the bugs out. Partially it's cheaper to buy that way and doesn't go bad. Partially I like knowing I always have a meal around! Rice is definitely a pantry item for me. Leftover rice and meat for fried rice. Leftover rice and milk and sugar for rice pudding. A quick snack for the girls after school. Underneath leftover beans of almost any kind, or lentils, or whatever--for a quick easy lunch. I've read, but not tried, that you can freeze leftover cooked rice and it makes great fried rice! One of these days when my freezer's got space I'll try that. In the meantime, here's how I cook it.

1 part rice
2 parts water
a pinch of salt (optional)
a pat of butter (optional)

Put it all in a pan and bring to a boil. Stir it and turn the heat down about as low as possible, to just barely a simmer. Cover and cook for 25 minutes. Stir and serve. 1 cup raw rice is enough for 3 of us to eat plenty and have leftovers.

I used to boil the water, then add the rice, but I find it makes no difference if I dump it all together in the beginning and it's much easier. I can use the same measuring cup if I measure the rice first (so the rice doesn't stick to the water).

For easy variations, use broth instead of water. This is a great use for those cups of frozen chicken broth you have in the freezer. Also, you can saute the rice in a bit of oil first, with some seasonings, and then cook as above with broth for a pilaf of sorts. I'm still searching for the perfect rice pudding recipe.

London Broil Marinade

London Broil and Flank Steak are what I usually end up barbecuing. I typically marinade them first and have several different marinades that work well, some of which I've posted before. Even a store-bought teriyaki sauce or Italian dressing makes a great marinade. If you shop where buying two makes more sense than buying one, put one steak in a freezer bag with some marinade and freeze it. It will marinate as it defrosts and be ready to throw on the grill.

Here's another I played with that was good. More work than my mom's old standby, but a different, stronger flavor.

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbs honey
2 Tbs vinegar (could probably substitute lemon juice)
2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 Tbs ginger
1/2 cup oil

If you had a green onion around to chop up and add to this it would be even better I think. But I didn't, so I didn't. Could also put some onion powder or dried onion flakes in here. But it's good as written.

Marinate the steak at least 4 hours or overnight. (Or freeze like I mentioned before.) Prepare a hot fire and barbecue about 7-9 minutes on each side. Take off before it's quite done as the meat will continue to cook a minute or so afterward. Let it rest a few minutes on the cutting board while you're fixing anything else you're serving (sauteed potatoes, green salad, corn on the cob, chard). Slice it against the grain--so that the lines you see in the meat run at right angles against the knife. Slice it at an angle, about 30 degrees if possible, so you get big thin slices that are easy to eat.

Leftovers? Slice it and add to a salad. Add to a burrito. Make some fried rice.

Bean and Corn Mélange

The girls wanted to make burritos with the last bit of leftover London Broil but their idea of burritos is refried beans, meat, cheese. I like mine to be full of "stuff" so I fixed up this mixture tonight that I could put in the burritos tonight and just use as a side dish the rest of the week.

1 Tbs oil
1 chopped onion
1 15 oz. can black beans
1 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained
1 15 oz. can corn, drained
1/2 15 oz can black olives, sliced
1 15 oz can tomatoes
1 cup or so of salsa (or you could use Rotel tomatoes)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup grated cheese

Heat the oil and saute the onion. Add the beans, corn, olives, salsa, and spices. Simmer a few minutes to blend everything, covered. Simmer longer if you're making rice to go with this! It just gets better. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and serve. Put it in burritos and eat as is. Put in burritos and add some leftover meat. (London Broil goes quite nicely!) Serve as a side dish. Serve over rice as a main dish, with or without leftover meat.

You can easily play with other beans and use up what you've got. Pinto beans, white beans, black beans, red beans--probably not garbanzos. ;) I always have a nice selection of canned beans in the pantry because you can do so much so quickly with them!

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I got these from a freezer cooking Yahoo group. When you've got overripe bananas on the counter, bake up a batch of these cookies instead of banana bread for a change! They're excellent! (And in case you don't know, if you don't have time to bake now, you can throw the bananas in the freezer, peeled or not, and cook with them later.)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2)
1 3/4 cup oatmeal (quick cooking)
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix together the dry ingredients, then blend in the softened butter. Add the egg, banana, and oatmeal and blend well. Stir in the chips. (You could also add some chopped nuts if you like.) Drop by spoonfuls and bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Fried Rice - The Perfect Way to Use Up Leftovers

My eldest reminded me we hadn't had fried rice in a while. I had some leftover barbecued London broil to use up so this seemed like a good combo. I've made friend rice before with leftover or raw chicken, pork, and flank steak. It always comes out great!

Cook up some rice, about 1 to 1.5 cups raw. You want about 3 cups cooked rice. If you have less than that leftover, use what you've got. (Note: Rice freezes well for fried rice, since it is better if it's leftover and a little dryer anyway. Just make extra one night and pop a few cups in a freezer bag for your next batch of fried rice.)

Heat a bit (2 Tbs) of oil in a large frying pan. Put in some sliced or shredded carrots, celery, onion--whatever you have around. Cook on medium until just softened, stirring frequently. Throw in a bit of sugar, soy sauce, salt and pepper and stir. Add the raw or cooked meat and cook or heat through. Throw in a can of bamboo shoots if you have them. Add other leftover vegetables like corn and peas if you have them.

Mix up an egg or two and 1 Tbs of milk. Here you have a choice.

If you like little strips of egg for fried rice, remove everything from the skillet, make sure there's enough oil or butter so the egg won't stick. Pour the egg in and cook it without stirring, so it lays flat, then flip it just once. Fold or roll the egg up and put on the cutting board and cut into strips.

Add the cooked rice to the pan and fry for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Some people like to remove the vegetables and meat, add a bit of oil, fry the rice, and then mix back in the vegetables and meat.

Put the cooked egg top of the rice and serve. Or if you're in a hurry and a bit lazy like me, just add the raw egg to the rice and cook until done, stirring frequently.

My children will eat almost any vegetable this way. And leftover meat does not feel like leftovers when it's presented so differently.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

A good use for boiled ground beef. When you want a meat sauce, heat up a jar or can of spaghetti sauce and add some already cooked ground beef to the sauce and heat through. This is great for last minute meals because you can thaw the already cooked meat in the microwave while you're setting the water to boil for the pasta and making a bit of garlic bread.

If you don't have a jar of sauce around, heat up as much tomato sauce as you need and add some Italian herbs, garlic, sugar, and a bit of red wine. Simmer.

Or heat up a can or two of pureed tomatoes and do the same for a thicker sauce.

Roast Asparagus

The garden is going! This is only my 2nd year growing asparagus so it's still not providing enough for us. I've been supplementing with store-bought. But I love the idea of "plant once, eat many times". Perennial vegetables. My simplest preparation that's delicious is to parboil the asparagus spears for just a few minutes, basically until just barely done. Then roast them either in the oven or on the barbecue. Either way, drizzle some olive oil on them and roll the spears around until they're coated. You can sprinkle red pepper flakes, seasoned pepper, or a variety of other things on them.

Then roast at 500 degrees F for 5 minutes or so, stirring now and then.

Or place them on the barbecue grill and roll them back and forth trying not to drop any down the grate!

Sports Night Casserole

Swim team has started up here. I know countless families wrestle with how to have dinner on the table before/after games and practices. I recently bought The Weekly Feeder : A Revolutionary Shopping, Cooking and Meal Planning System at the recommendation of a CheapCooking reader. It's organized to provide you with a complete week's worth of menus, including an organized grocery shopping list. She called this Baseball Casserole. I adapted it to make a smaller portion (still way more than 3 of us could eat but good for lunches I think) and added some cheese.

3-4 skinless boneless chicken breasts or equivalent amount of tenders
2 Tbs butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 can of diced tomatoes, not drained
1 can of corn, drained
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup cheese to sprinkle on the top

Preheat the oven to 375.

Cook the chicken until just barely done in the oven or microwave. 10 minutes or so in the oven. Cut into bite sized pieces.

Melt the butter in the microwave and add the minced garlic to it.

In a casserole dish, add the rice, broth, butter and garlic, corn, tomatoes, chicken, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to mix.

Cover and bake 45 minutes to an hour. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Next time I might used those Rotel tomatoes, diced tomatoes with diced green chili peppers, to kick it up a notch in flavor.

Hamburgers

So I admit to often buying those pre-formed frozen hamburger patties. They're so convenient to have around: just throw them on the grill still frozen, slice up some pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, heat up a can of beans--and there's dinner! But the meat is somewhat tasteless I think. Or so high in fat the patties shrink down to 1/3 their initial size.

And forming regular ground beef into patties without anything extra seems to produce good but crumbly patties that fall apart on the grill. So I've fallen back to my mom's old method, which is basically pretty darn near her old meatloaf recipe!

1 pound burger
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
1 big squirt of catsup (about 1 Tbs for those of you who like to measure)
1 small squirt of prepared mustard (about 1 tsp)
a few shots of Worcestershire (1/2 tsp to 1 tsp depending on how much you love Worcestershire)
1 Tbs of horseradish (this is NOT in her meatloaf recipe I notice.)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all up. I use my big mixer to do this. Then I talk the visiting neighbor into actually making the patties because I hate that feeling of grease on my hands. The little Tupperware hamburger mold thing works well if there aren't any neighbors handy, but makes the patties too small for my taste. If all else fails, let the kids do this part. Slice up the condiments: here they include tomatoes, onions (preferably red ones), cheese, pickles, and lettuce.

The grill should be preheated. My dad's old rule was 10 minutes on one side, I think, then flip for just barely a minute. He swears that makes them moister. Of course, it all depends upon how thick your patties are.